Promise to think of me
by IndigoQueen
Summary: What if when you thought of the dead they could hear you? What if they could visit you in your dreams? Cathry.


_**Authors Note: **reposting this coz something messed up the first time, thank you **demedicigirl** for letting me know! this is just something random I thought of today so let me know what you think Xox _

"It's been a long while since you last thought of me" The late King of France noted as he entered his widows bed chamber "..why is that Catherine?" He asked softly as he walked over to where she stood on the balcony.

"_You know why" _the Queen regent replied simply, her voice barely above a whisper as she looked out towards the gardens below. It pained her to think of him..to picture his smile and remember his laugh knowing she'd never hear it again, _not in this life anyway. _Catherine was never one to dwell in the past, to sit still and allow herself to mourn. She had to keep moving, keep busy so she didn't have to think about the fact that she seemed to be cursed to out-live everyone she loved.

Her King knew this, he had always known her far better than she would ever like to admit. He smirked at her the way he often did throughout his life, _not that she saw_. She was doing all that she could not look at him, not to fall under his spell and let her heart fall to pieces yet again when she remembers she can't keep him. "Well I suppose I should just be thankful you haven't forgotten me completely now that you've found others to warm your bed"

"Henry, _don't_" she begged, her breath hitching slightly, hating the way he made out their were so many, or that any of them could possibly fill the whole he left in her heart. Catherine never felt guilty about her suitors, Henry was dead after all. Though that didn't mean she liked hearing him speak of them, there were some things the dead shouldn't be allowed to see.

"Shh, I'm only teasing, my love" he soothed, wrapping his arms around her as she stood against the railing. "I don't begrudge you your need for company in my absence" he assured, kissing her temple. "_Even in death you taunt me" _Catherine chuckled, relaxing into his embrace. She was much older now, but as his scent overcame her senses she felt as though she was still the young Italian girl that had fallen in love with her french Prince Charming.

"Catherine, why have you brought me here?" He hummed into her ear as he swayed them back and forth. Wondering why now after what seemed like an eternity had she finally called to him again.

"..are you taking care of the children?" She asked, avoiding his question. "Louis, the twins, Francis and.."

"_And Charles_." It had only been a few weeks since her beloved boy had died and it still tore at her heart to even speak his name. He hadn't ruled for long, young Charles. Longer than his older brother but not long enough to bring about an heir and not nearly long enough for his mother to watch him grow into the great King she knew he would've been. "Yes my Queen, they're all safe with me now." He reassured, trying to put all her fears to rest, knowing how she worried for them even in heaven. As far as Catherine was concerned there was no place safer for her children than in her arms..not being able to protect them wore away at her to the point where she sometimes wondered if death was really all that far away. "I'm not the same man I was when I was alive my love I promise you, I'm making up for all the time I wasted with them." The Queen smiled at his words, imagining her little babies all chasing their father around the clouds, tiny wings on their back and joyous laughter filling the air..she prayed that the picture her mind created was what it was really like, that they were happy all the time and their hearts were never touched with the sadness she felt daily in their absence.

"Catherine.." He whispered, Turing her to face him finally. Her hair had greyed a little and her face was more wrinkled than before but she was still breathtaking. Henry on the other hand looked exactly as she remembered him "why am I really here?"he asked curiously, to which she merely offered a small, nostalgic smile.

"_You know."_

For a moment he looked perplexed. Time moved differently on the other side and so it was sometimes difficult to keep up with dates, though the look on her face told him all he need know. "_Our anniversary,_ of course." He grinned, moving her hair out of her face. It was down, just the way he had always liked it and the sight had him smiling all the more. "Catherine, won't you dance with me?" He asked, taking her hand in his own and bringing it up to his lips so he could plant a delicate kiss on the back of her hand, his dark eyes looking up at her with so adoration that the supposedly cold hearted woman couldn't help the blush creeping into her cheeks. Nor could she deny his charming request.

Catherine had always been a beautiful dancer and though it had been a long time since she'd partaken it remained one of her favourite activities. Only made better her current company. She had danced with hundreds of men over the years, of varying skill levels but she had never found a more perfect partner than her husband. No one else had ever come remotely close and there were certainly no others that were worth _dreaming_ about.

They danced slowly, each humming the tune to the same song. _Their song. _It was what was playing during their first dance on their wedding night and neither had ever forgotten the tune. Moving with a grace surely unmatched by any other pair they glided along her bedroom floor, then back out into the balcony and then at some point the world around them seemed to disappear. Then it was just the two of them swaying to the music they created, untouchable by the hash reality that some time soon one of them was going to have to wake up and the other was going to be once again not much more than a distant memory.

"I'm proud of you, I hope you know" Henry announced after a while.

"Oh?" Came Catherine's amused smile.

"You're doing a far better job as Queen regent than I ever did as King." He confessed "Little Henry is lucky to have you" he added lovingly in a way he had hardly ever spoken to her whilst living.

"Yes well..what are mothers for?" She said quietly, trying not to let her emotions get the better of her.

"There has never been a greater mother than you, my darling" her husband went on as he spun her around.

"Henry.." The Queen whispered, her voice filled with sorrow and her eyes with regret, "why did we throw away all the years we could've been together? Why did you leave me here _alone_"

"Sometimes fate is cruel my love, and I don't know the reason why" He replied, his chest tightening as her eyes welled with unshed tears, his own filling with pools of regret as well. But he pushed on, as it was his job to make her strong now, just as she had done for him almost all the days of his life. "..but I know one day we will be reunited again and all the what ifs we tossed to the side throughout the years will finally be realised" Henry promised, his hands moving to cup her porcelain face.

"So _that's_ your plan?" She chuckled, unable to be rid of her cynicism even in her sleep. "To forever live in the memories that could've been"

Her dark prince could do nothing to stop himself from laughing as well, rolling his eyes at her critical response. Some things not even time could change. "My plan is to watch over you, and wait until you come to me, so that we might live the rest of eternity in each other's arms." He clarified, letting his hands fall to her hips as he pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"..I don't suppose you know when that will be?" She queried, looking up at him apprehensively. Unable to decide whether or not she would welcome her fate if it were soon. On one hand she yearned everyday to be reunited with her Henry, along with all of her children taken from her too soon, yet on the other that would mean leaving her remaining children behind and she wasn't sure they, especially her little Henry, was quite ready for her to be without her.

"Not for a long while yet, my dear" he assured, guessing her worry for their youngest son and two remaining daughters.

"...promise me you'll think of me" he requested earnestly, meeting her eyes and cutting her off as she began to protest "every year on this day and on the day of my birth..and the day of my death" he amended, not wanting to ask too much of her. He just missed her is all. Without her thinking of him there was no way he could contact her, that was the rule of the dead. He could only enter her dreams if she wanted him to. "On the children's birthdays as well, unless that's becoming too greedy" Henry added with cheeky grin that Catherine couldn't stop herself from returning.

"Only if you promise to visit me when I do" she agreed after a moment, her hands coming to rest on his chest.

Henry brought his own much larger hands up to lay over hers before leaning in and placing a loving kiss on her lips. One she returned without a moments hesitation and that quickly became passionate. For the first time in years she felt complete in his embrace, though it lasted only a few seconds before she felt herself starting to wake up, her heart dropping to her knees she tried to fight to stay asleep, fight to stay with him. _But it was no use. _

Though as her eyes lazily started to open she heard his voice in the back of her mind give his answer, _his vow._

"_Always_"


End file.
